Human Library of Kingston

Years ago, when Awesome Kingston first started, I pitched the Humans of Kingston project and didn’t win a grant. The project happened anyway, in fact of all the projects we’ve ever worked on has been one of the most popular (engagement, viewer metrics, _______). The project is coming to an end in the spring having reached and in some ways, surpassed, its maturation period. The void of ‘connecting’ strangers in town has been filled, in part, by other projects, and quite frankly our goals have changed. To take some of the momentum we’ve collected in the ~5 years since the project began, we want to feature some of the humans and translate them into books. These ‘books’ will on a yet-to-be-decided date be available to be checked out for a duration of time for an honest, sincere, and unscripted conversation. Our current aim is a modest 50 folks in the ‘library,’ though depending on the logistical juggling we hope to scale that a little higher. Aside from the physical, tangible, IRL (in-real-life) engagements, interactions, and multitudes of story, we’re aiming to design a participatory way of collecting these stories and hosting a digital potluck so that the project may, perhaps, somehow, if possible, evolve.